A Man For Her
by AnneLea
Summary: Briareos remembers a few days while he was still the man he knows Deunan deserves. Not mine, all belong to Shirow Masumune. I'm just borrowing them and playing with them a bit. LEMON! ONESHOT.


Water mixed with blood, sand, and minute shrapnel as it trickled over a wound into dirt. Hands moved quickly to a small canister sitting in the embers of a fast burning fire, using a pocket knife to lift boiled strips of what was once a man's undershirt, moving them to tie onto the wound tightly while still hot. Without medicine for the pain, or even a simple antibiotic cream for the wound, worry shook at the hands.

A smaller, paler hand fisted in a discarded vest as the hot, wet cloth was pressed to the wound. Pain shot through the leg in both directions. Teeth bit down on a stick that stifled a cry of pain. The larger hands moved faster, keeping the wound above the ground to keep the inner layers free from dirt. They wrapped a larger piece around the pack several times before tying it off. Slowly the teeth loosened their grip, but the hand was locked onto the vest as tightly as ever as the woman breathed through the worst of the pain, waiting for adrenaline to kick in and take the edge off of her pain while the man tucked her pants under her thigh to keep it elevated a bit without his support or her struggling to keep the tender and torn muscles up on her own.

"Will you be all right if I leave you here for a few minutes?" the man asked, rubbing the back of his neck out of habit.

"Yeah," the woman replied, still trying to breath through a bit of pain. "Just don't be too long."

"I won't go more than a mile away," he promised, touching her cheek lovingly before turning away and going out into the abandoned town in search of anything they might be able to use.

He kept to the shadows cast by the early evening sun, keeping from drawing the attention of soldiers that may or may not still be alive to make him a mark. They had come through by way of a residential area, not hitting the town itself until after an attacker tried to take them out with the grenade when the man shot him off a rooftop.

A bar was his first stop. Alcohol was always useful, if a bit painful at times. And he was sure there would be a forgotten first aid box stowed behind the bar or in the office. All barkeeps kept the right stuff on hand if they were in business for more than a week. He was in luck, both unopened bottles of beverages and two stocked first aid kits were inside. No food, though, except rotten meat not even fit for carrion birds in a broken down freezer. He moved on to the next best place, an old gas station. Inside he found preserved foods on most of the shelves, and bottles of purified water in the old coolers. The alcohol hadn't been locked up like at the bar, and was thus missing from its place. The cash register was emptied and bashed apart, too. Having lived with his partner for two years now, he also knew what she wanted and needed as a woman, and he quickly grabbed up a few of those things only women ever gladly touched to shove into his bag with everything else.

Dark was falling faster, so he abandoned the rest of his search for the time being and went back to their make shift camp inside an abandoned home. Nights were cold in northern Mexico even when you had someone to warm you up a bit. There would be little of that kind of warming up tonight, he decided, even if she wanted it. Right now they had to find a way to survive at the town while her leg mended. Should more of their earlier attackers come in durring the night, they'd need their energy to fend them off again. Sex always took back seat to survival with them.

When he returned to the house they had set up in, it was to find that the woman was looking over the supplies they had brought with them, not much besides weapons and armor.

"I hope you found some decent stuff, Briareos," the woman sighed. "We don't have enough here for two days."

"They left this place pretty quickly," he answered, setting the full bag down before her. "There's more out there, maybe enough to get us by for a couple of months or more."

"That's good," she nodded sleepily, swaying with exhaustion despite her brief rest.

"Careful, Deunan," Briareos caught her by her shoulder where she sat. "You can do that after we get a real bandage on that leg and some medicine in your system."

Deunan pulled a face at the word "medicine."

"I actually think you'll like what I've brought you," he winked, pulling out a bottle of vodka and shaking it a little before her.

"Ooh! Good stuff!" She made grabby hands in the general direction.

Briareos smiled, letting a little laugh escape him as he set it down just out of her reach and pulled out one of the first aid kits. "Prep work first."

.

.

.

Morning's first gray light was on the horizon when Briareos awoke. The change in Deunan's breathing had to be the culprit for his sudden state of alertness. It had gone from a deep sleep to something else, a bad dream, perhaps. Then he noticed she was burning up, yet cuddling close to his side, seeking even more warmth. Two days ago they had noticed the infection, but it hadn't been that bad. Briareos drained it out and doused the area with rubbing alcohol, handing over the rest of the vodka to Deunan at the same time. It should have worked, but the infection was still hanging on for some reason. Perhaps it had already entered her blood stream and taken up residence somewhere else? Still, the alcohol should have worked.

"Hey," Briareos rubbed her arm briskly, brining her into wakefulness. Her eyes were wide and her body tensed quickly, the shaking stopped. Slowly, she recognised him in the darkness and relaxed, her temperature returning to as normal as possible during the cool, dark hours while sweating so much from the dream. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," she whispered, laying her head back on his chest again. "I don't want to think about it."

"Okay," he rubbed her back gently. Briareos had a few inner demons he never shared with her; it was only fair that he let her keep a few of hers from him. "Rest a little longer, but don't let yourself fall asleep again. We need to work on your leg some more, find some actual antibiotics..."

"And crutches," Deunan added.

"Absolutely not," he snapped at her. "We both know that'll make you more of a target than a limp will."

"And we both know I can only limp like this for so much longer. I need support."

"You need rest and recovery time before we hit the road again."

"Well it's obvious I'm not going to get that here with at least one fight a day within ear-shot."

.

.

.

.

The first night in the rented room was quiet and dedicated to resting their weary bodies and minds. That day was spent earning a little more money to pay for a second and third night by helping the locals with mundane tasks that payed little. The following night was a bit different, though.

Briareos pulled off his sweaty shirt and dropped it onto the floor by the door to the hotel room, catching sight of Deunan as she slept on the only bed, taking up most of the surface space there. Hoping not to disturb her, he went to the sink and splashed a little water onto his face, arms, and--

And not his chest as planned.

Arms encircled his waist and chest tenderly, lips brushing the birth mark on his left shoulder. One thumb played with his left nipple, the other hand dipping to caress his inner thigh. Deunan's lips began to suck, and her teeth to nip. He could hear her breathing become a little ragged when her hand came back up to find he had the beginnings of an erection tenting his pants slightly.

Briareos held onto the sink, gripping it tightly in an effort to clear his mind. It wasn't like Deunan to initiate things without a bit of wooing him with wine and pretty words first. A soldier she may be, but always a woman first. She enjoyed the fancy things now and then. Today, though, her hands and mouth told him she was just too anxious to play around much first. Problem was, they were still in a relatively dangerous zone and would be leaving out early in the morning. Once more, they couldn't afford the luxury Deunan craved and was bringing Briareos close to caving into.

"Deunan..." he ground out, trying not to react when her tongue danced on the skin of his side near a somewhat new scar that was still tender. "This isn't...a good...idea. Have to...early..."

"It's still early evening," she whispered in his ear before starting all over there. "And we have two more weeks to make it to the boarder. That's an easy pace for us."

Briareos turned around and held Deunan by her shoulders, her own hands resting on his hips now, gently tugging at his pants. She was biting her lip in nervousness, wondering if he still had the will power to back out of the situation. Her thoughts were answered when he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, gently working them open and deepening until the kiss became a crushing lock of lips, teeth, and tongue.

His hands began working at the buttons of her night shirt as they slowly made their way--kissing--back to the bed. He managed to throw it off before picking her up and laying her down in the center of the bed on her back, tracing his finger nails over and around her breasts and nipples, up her throat, and into her hair as his lips found new ground in the area just under her chin, then working down to her stomach, and lower still, taking her panties off with his mouth.

Deunan flipped him over, feeling like the balance of power and clothing needed to be restored. He was a willing captive as she released his belt and opened his pants up with her teeth and tongue, all the while her hands dancing here and there. Occasionally, she even managed to tickle the bottom of a foot and send him into a fit of silent giggles, turning him into a little boy once more. Yet, what her hands revealed when she pulled down his pants and boxers was not the body of a boy, but of a capable man and soldier.

She didn't look very long, wanting him more with every beat of her heart, wanting him inside her, gasping and moaning... He would make her wait, though, wanting to prolong her torture just a bit more. He sat back up and scooted her closer to him, sitting her on his thighs as he attacked her lips once more, supporting her back with one arm and dancing the fingers of the other hand at her opening and thighs. He teased her by just barely pushing a finger inside to the first knuckle and wiggling it back and forth like he often did with his tongue when they agreed to take a little more time. He only did it long enough to make her wet before diving in with the one finger twice, then a few more times with two, causing her to gasp with every stroke as he rubbed along that secret place inside of her that he had found over a year before by shear luck. Her nails bit into his sides as she started to plead with him to finish her. She was sweaty and wet between her legs and ready to take him in to her core.

"Damn it, Briareos, stop playing around and fuck me into the bed already!" she whimpered in his ear, trying to get the strength to latch on to it or his neck, make her mark on her man.

"Kiss me," he replied, voice heady with desire, "and I'll fuck you through it and the floor."

She shook with the anticipation, knowing just how rough he could be, and loving every bit of it as she placed her hands at the back of his head and crushed her lips into his. He eased her onto her back, being gentle before the storm spread from their lips to their bodies. Parting her legs, she raised her hips up enough for him to line up and steady after the first thrust that caused them both to harden and still. Two more times he went in easy, building up his resistance to orgasm before moving faster, harder, and picking up speed. His penis rammed deep inside of her, stretching her longer even as the walls began to tighten around his shaft. Deunan's whole body pressed into his, squeezing, scratching, biting, needing... She came, slicking his movement even more, and she came again, spilling out onto the bed. He moved harder, changing angles slightly, finding that one position that seemed to rub her the right way, and drove her over the edge into pure ecstasy but a second before he himself was pulled over the edge with her.

He fell on top of her, still buried to the hilt between her thighs and throbbing while her body twitched and writhed beneath his. Both of them were too tired to move even a finger, too tired to do anything but gasp at air and ride out the slowly fading waves, taking in each other's scents, and the smell of sex all around them, filling the room and seeping into the bed linnens. Completed for however briefly it lasted.

"Briareos, I...mmh...haaahhh," Deunan struggled to speak though the world was still spinning around her.

"Shh..." he pressed a finger to her lips, only to have it captured by her mouth. He pulled it out quickly to keep from getting turned on all over again only to find his body still wasn't ready to catch up to his mind and hormones. "Easy, Deunan. Let it pass."

Deunan sighed as Briareos put feather light kisses across her stomach and chest, helping along the last waves of ecstasy.

"Let it pass," he whispered again, caressing her face as he pulled himself up to lay by her side.

Deunan wrapped her arms around him and gave him a weak hug. His weight and heat made her feel safe and loved as she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to overtake her.

.

.

.

.

Oh to be a real man again, Briareos thought as wakefulness brought the truth of reality back before his eyes.

He had fallen asleep on the sofa again, looking to all the world as if he was in nothing more than deep thought or a systems check. Deunan was busy in the kitchen, not bothering him since she didn't know which state was the truth. She just helped herself to some cereal and occasionally glanced his way, her legs kicking the way they did when she was bored and wanted to go out for a run.

He could see the scars on her leg, faded from all those years ago when it was a fresh wound.

Wondering if it were ever possible to go back in time and change things with the knowledge he had now, he knew the first thing on the list would be to avoid the loss of his body... his whole, human body. To be able to feel her skin against his as they slept, sweaty from joined exertion... He just wanted to see her like that again, wrapped in his arms, breath tickling his neck and pushing at stray strands of his own dark hair.

She looked so content back then, even if fearful.

Now, Deunan was nothing more than always on her toes, full of pent up energy and emotions. She never relaxed.

How could he?


End file.
